Could anyone help this person, please? I’ll pass on any responses.
Original Message:
Brian Could you please give me some info on how I could buy or have
made some stone carving tools to use on marble and lime stone. Also
were I can access some marble and limestone from. I live in Wanganui
(New Zealand). Thank you Cassandra Knight.
Marble and limestone are pretty soft. The ancient Egyptians didn’t
even have metal tools and they did a fine job working with limestone.
These materials can be worked with cold chisels and wood chisels with
the points modified to suit your needs. For finishing surfaces you
can use coarse files and emery cloth of various grits.
You can also use common power tools to work with these soft
materials. One that comes in very handy is a body grinder with
carbide disk. You can also use sanding disks and carbide and diamond
tipped drills. To do rough cuts you can use a circular saw with a
masonry blade, providing you use caution and work slowly so as not to
bind the blade or overheat your material or blade. The only problem
with using non water-cooled equipment is keeping the material cool
and the dust down. Wear a dust mask!
Limestone, slate sandstone and other softer stone is probably
available at a near by garden/landscaping supplier. Many larger
pieces are used for decorative landscaping. Marble maybe found
through a sculpture supply house/ stone dealer. If you don’t have
these available in NZ, please let me know. There is one very well
priced dealer in the LA area with a large variety of sculpting stone
available. Other sources for marble include counter and
architectural fabricators. Check around for salvage businesses in
building materials. Power tools for stone sculpting include angle
grinders, die grinders, flexshafts, drills, sanders(belt and all
types of random orbit) and saws(handheld “Skill” etc., type and power
hacksaws). Variable speed angle grinders are the best for larger
work. After rough shaping with chisels, saws and rasps; silicon
carbide is the choice for finishing. “Zec” disk are spiral silicon
carbide. These are available in several grits from 16 to 120 plus.
They are superior in cutting and longevity for marble and softer
stones. Run in the 4000 to 6000 rpm range, faster rpm will result in
the disk glazing and the loss of cutting ability. A router speed
control maybe used with a standard angle grinder to create a variable
speed unit. It will out last all other abrasives in cutting capacity
and longevity. For final finishing PSA and velcro style disks are
available in grits to 500 at a reasonable price. Used with a
flexible pad sanding disk with your drill. Very fast and efficient.
I used these in 3" and 5" sizes. Polish marble with tin
oxide(available in bar form) compound on a muslin buff in your drill.
Sculptural carving is my relaxing method from jewelry work. Any
other questions? Please ask. Marcus Amshoff PS use eye, ear and dust
protection with all power tools. Eye and dust protection for all
chisel and sawing work.
Brian (and Cassandra) -
Sender: owner-orchid@ganoksin.com
Precedence: bulk
Just about any cold chisel, star drill, horseshoer’s rasp, i.e. any
good quality steel tool - can be used to carve and shape limestone
and marble. I have a number of sources for stone and tools I could
look up - but they’re here in the States - the shipping charges to
Enzed would be horrendous, wouldn’t they? I’d suggest contacting a
stone mason for tool sources - and probably for stones, too. Your
local building trades assoc. should be able to put you in touch with
a mason and/or a stone supplier. If you need more help, E-mail me at
mbiscay@aol.com and I’ll dig out my sculpture file. Luck
Another possible source of marble & limestone is your local funeral
monument fabricator. They often have large drop-offs and monuments
with errors (if you don’t mind the occasional angel). A friend of mine
gets a truck load for around $200 US.